The Osun state government has denied paying N50m severance package to political office holders who served between November 2010 and November 2014, describing the allegation as malicious and false in entirety.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Mr Adelani Baderinwa on Wednesday said the leader of the 2011/2012 pensioners group, Mr Omoniyi Ilesanmi who made the accusation was attempting to incite the people against the Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.

Baderinwa who spoke on a private radio in Osogbo explained that the highest amount paid to two ex-political aides was N4 million while others received N3 million and N2.8 million a year ago, while he did not received a penny as salary or severance package.

He explained that the severance allowance paid was in line with Section 4 (1) and (2) Schedule (B) of the State of Osun Public/Political Office Holders and Revised Remuneration Package Law 2007, which recommends 300 per cent of basic salary as severance allowance.

The commissioner said: “The allegation is false in its entirety and absolutely unreasonable for anybody to say that the government will give each political office holder a N50 million severance allowance at this period when every available kobo is being mopped to pay salaries and pensions, provide infrastructure and social services and run a modest government.

“Governor Aregbesola demonstrated sensitivity to the financial situation in the state when he did not constitute a cabinet for more than two years. When he eventually did, he put all political office holders on half salary. How then could he have paid N50 million to each to political office holders as severance allowance?

Baderinwa explained that the payment of gratuity was a gradual process, saying “The pensioners that retired in 2009 and 2010 would be attended to first before the 2011/2012 workers who retired because they did not want to participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme.

“Governor Aregbesola is not insensitive to the pensioners’ plight, and I can you the set of pensioners protesting are a fraction of the 2011/2012 group, they are not speaking for the generality of pensioners.

“I want to appeal to the 2011/2012 pensioners not to allow themselves to be used by politicians; they had worked for the development of the state, they should not let disgruntled elements to use them to stampede the progress of the state.”